I Started Robbery As Bus Conductor – Suspect Confesses

CYRIACUS IZUEKWE

A 31-year old notorious criminal, Godwin Okafor, of No. 127 Ojo Road, Ajegunle, Lagos, has confessed that his journey as a robber started 15 years ago as a bus conductor before becoming a notorious pickpocket.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that Okafor made the revelation after he was nabbed by the operatives of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences (Task Force) over the weekend for robbery in Lagos.

This was disclosed by the Task Force Chairman, CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi, who said that the suspect was nabbed on top of Costain Bridge around Surulere area by the Enforcement and Monitoring patrol team of the Agency.
CSP Egbeyemi further hinted that preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect was a ring leader of a 4-man criminal gang which specialised in picking pockets and robbing the public of their valuables such as phones, wallets and jewelries with the use of a commercial bus at different parts of the State.

“The suspect and 3 others who are presently at large was nabbed after they jumped down from a commercial bus on top of Costain Bridge immediately they suspected that a patrol team of the Agency was chasing them right from Ojuelegba” he said.

According to Egbeyemi, “There had been series of complaint by commuters on activities of these criminals using commercial bus to rob them of their valuables which prompted the officers of the Agency to embark on regular patrol of every nook and crannies of the State”.

The Chairman maintained that the operatives of the Agency and other security agencies across the State will not relent in curbing criminal activities being perpetuated by miscreants and hoodlums across the State.
While urging members of the public to always report any illegal and criminal activities around them to relevant law enforcement officers of the State, CSP Egbeyemi however confirmed that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Zubairu Muazu, has directed that the suspect be charged to court for prosecution.

The suspect, Godwin Okafor, confessed during interrogation that he started as a bus conductor 15 years ago before becoming a notorious pickpocket. Okafor equally confessed that he and his criminal gang had operated in different parts of the State which included Oshodi to Mile 2, Obalende, Pen Cinema, Agege, Ojota and Ikorodu Road. And that any passenger who refused to cooperate with them was usually beaten and thrown out of their commercial bus on top speed.

“We have been in this robbery and pick-pocketing business for long as we dispossessed our passengers of their valuables such as wallets, jewelries including phones which we sold as fairly used to the public” Okafor said.

The suspect also claimed that they were making between N80,000 and N100,000 every day after selling their stolen phones and other valuables.